From the Shetland Islands to London. The question everyone asked inspirational speaker Anna – WHY?!
At the core of the journey is an aim to show the young women of Great Britain that there is more in magic them than they will ever know.
She has taken up the 2,620-mile challenge to encourage other young women to push themselves.
As a proud ambassador and inspirational speaker for UK Girl Guiding, she’s worked alongside the organisation to visit as many Guiding units on the route as possible – speaking to girls of all ages about the joys of adventure and the great outdoors.
It’s an exciting time for Girl Guiding in the UK – they’ve recently overhauled their badge program, and are progressive in encouraging young women to carve out a bright future or themselves.
Here’s Anna’s route from the very top to the bottom of the UK…
The route finished in London with media coverage from TV and newspapers…
Every few days Anna posted three options on Facebook and Twitter. The option that received the most number of votes/comments/poll choices across both Facebook and Twitter was declared the winner. Simples. After 1,328 miles of travelling, she hit the Med at Marseille, boxed up Boudica the pink bicycle and flew home.
Side by side, Anna and her friend Faye and I spent 184 days pedalling their way 5,500 miles through Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. From the bustling city of La Paz, all the way down to Ushuaia – the last sizeable chunk of land before you reach Antarctica.
Far from taking the shortest, most direct route (that would rather dull now, wouldn’t it?), they sought the mountainous course possible. By the time they returned to the UK they had ascended over 100,000 metres – equivalent to 11 times the height of Everest – on their humble bicycles.
In 2013 Anna set out, alone and unassisted, on a 7 month, 11,000-mile cycle through North America – taking in one Canadian province and each and every state of the USA.
On a mission to spread a little two-wheeled love and inspiration, she rode a beautiful Pink bike (called Boudica) and visited local schools and communities wherever possible to give talks along the way.
Setting off from Bluff, New Zealand Anna ran 1,911 miles along the Te Araroa trail alone.
Unsupported and with all her gear in a 14kg backpack, she travelled through New Zealand’s backcountry for 148 days, scrambling through forests, along ridge-lines, over mountain passes, along beaches and across swollen rivers. Running up to 52 kilometres in a day, she slept wild most nights, and was taken into the homes and hearts of the Kiwi people in between.